Raspberries have long migrated from the forest to their summer cottages. Gardeners successfully grow it, and breeders are constantly expanding the range. Creating new varieties, they try to improve not only the taste, but also other characteristics that expand the cultivation area of the crop. Meteor is one of the raspberry varieties created by Russian scientists for the middle strip and northern latitudes, which is of great interest to gardeners and farmers in these regions.
Growing history
The meteor is the achievement of Russian breeders of the Kokinsky stronghold of the All-Russian Institute of Horticulture and Nursery. Under the leadership of I.V. Kazakov, one of the old Russian varieties Novosti Kuzmin was crossed with Bulgarian raspberry Kostinbrodskaya. Both “parents” are tall in their characteristics and mid-ripening in terms of maturity, however, the “descendant” turned out to be medium-tall and very early.
Since 1979, the novelty was in the state variety testing and in 1993 was included in the State Register of Selection Achievements of the Russian Federation in the Northern, North-Western, Central, Volga-Vyatka, Central Black Earth and Middle Volga regions.
Description and characteristics of raspberries Meteor
The early maturity is the main feature of the variety. It is popular in the middle lane and northern regions, where early ripeness is especially valued. Harvest begins to be harvested in the first half of June, and in favorable warm weather you can do this already at the beginning of the month. Raspberry Meteor is ordinary, not remontant, but with prolonged and warm summer in August, flowers and ovary can form on the annual shoots.
Medium-sized, slightly spreading bushes (up to two meters) have powerful, erect stems with a small waxy coating and a drooping top. There are very few thorns, they are small, thin and short. Plants have an average shoot formation ability, they grow 20-25 per meter.
Raspberry bushes Meteor medium-sized, slightly spreading, 20-25 shoots grow per meter
Fruits of medium size (weight 2.3-3.0 grams) conical shape with a blunt end. The color is red; when fully ripened, a ruby hue appears. Berries are well removed from the stalk and are preserved during harvesting and transportation due to firmly bonded drupe.
Raspberry berries Meteor stupidly conical, weighing 2.3 -3 grams, when ripening red-ruby color
The purpose of use is universal, the taste is dessert. Sugar content - 8.2%, acidity - 1.1%. When using fruits for processing, products (preserves, jams, compotes, fillings, etc.) are of high quality. Berries are also suitable for freezing.
Productivity - 50-70 kg / ha, with good agricultural technology can reach 110 kg / ha. From one bush you can collect up to two kilograms of products. The return of the harvest is friendly.
Winter hardiness of plants is high, which gives the variety special value when grown in medium and northern latitudes. Drought tolerance is average. Immunity to major fungal diseases is high. Instability to growth, purple spotting, spider mites and shoot shoots is noted.
Video: Meteor raspberry variety review
Advantages and disadvantages
Raspberry Meteor has a large number of advantages:
- ultra-early maturity;
- powerful resistant stems:
- minimum number of small thin spikes on the stems;
- high transportability;
- excellent dessert taste of fruits, their universal purpose (used fresh, suitable for processing and freezing);
- fairly high productivity (increases with good agricultural technology);
- high winter hardiness;
- resistance to fungal diseases.
Disadvantages also exist, but they are much smaller:
- low drought tolerance;
- with a significant yield may require garters to the supports;
- susceptible to purple spotting and overgrowth, unstable to damage by spider mites and shoot gall midges.
For the sake of the positive properties of the variety, gardeners are ready to put up with its small disadvantages, which are not critical and quite removable with appropriate agricultural technology.
Features of growing raspberries Meteor
You can get a good crop of crops with ordinary care. Meteor has few features of agricultural technology, but when growing it is better to take them into account in order to increase productivity.
Landing
Meteor growth conditions are standard:
- open and well-lit place;
- soil with high acidity is not recommended;
- fertile loams are preferred;
- does not grow on wetlands;
- the application of organic fertilizers before planting.
The planting scheme is used as usual for medium-tall varieties of this crop: bush (1-1.5 meters between bushes, used for single plantings) and tape (30-50x2-2.5 m). A mixture of humus or compost with potassium-phosphorus fertilizer is added to pre-prepared pits measuring 40x40x40. You can plant in spring and autumn.
Care
It is necessary to regularly remove the root shoot, cutting it with a shovel in the ground at a depth of 3-5 cm. 10-12 replacement pagons grow annually from the center of the bush. In the spring, leave 6-7 stems per bush and shorten them by 25-30 cm. Despite the power of upright shoots, when the crops ripen, they can slope down, so a garter to the trellis is needed.
Meteor raspberry shoots are normalized, leaving 6-7 stems per bush, and tie them to the trellis
Since insufficient resistance to dryness of air and soil is declared, watering should be given special attention, but it is important not to overdo it. Increased dampness will not benefit plants. Moisture is most needed during the period of fruit setting and filling. After watering, it is recommended to mulch the soil with organic substances to preserve moisture.
Watering is well combined with top dressing. At the beginning of the blooming of the kidneys, they are fed for the first time, and then twice more with an interval of two weeks. The highest demand of plants in nitrogen. Feeding with liquid organic fertilizers is more effective; in their absence, mineral fertilizers are used. The following options for the composition of the nutrient mixture and its dosage are possible:
- 1 liter of bird droppings infusion per 20 liters of water (3-5 liters per square meter);
- 1 liter of cow manure infusion per 10 liters of water (3-5 liters per square meter);
- 30 g of urea per 10 liters of water (1-1.5 liters per bush).
If potassium and phosphorus fertilizers were applied during planting, then after that they are applied every three years.
Diseases and Pests
The risk of reduced yields creates the instability of raspberries Meteor to some diseases and pests. You need to get to know them better in order to be ready to protect plants.
Purple spotting
On annual shoots below the point of attachment of the leaf petiole, purple blurry spots appear. Petioles, leaves and fruit twigs are affected by necrosis. The disease leads to the death of affected organs. The causative agent of the disease is Didymella applanata Sacc., So the disease can also be called didimella.
The appearance of purple spots on raspberry shoots is the first sign of infection with purple spotting (didimella)
In order to prevent, they destroy infected plant debris, provide ventilation for plantings, and prevent overmoistening. Their chemical methods apply spraying with 1% Bordeaux fluid until buds open. Then they are treated at the beginning of shoot growth (at a height of up to 20 cm), before flowering and immediately after flowering with copper chloroxide (3-4 g per 1 liter of water) or Bordeaux liquid.
Video: Fighting Purple Raspberry Spotting
Sprouting raspberries
A viral disease that spreads by insects - cicadas. It also has the common name dwarf raspberry or witch's broom. With the defeat of this disease, instead of several healthy stems, very thin and short shoots with small leaves that form dense bunches grow in huge quantities in the form of root shoots.
When raspberries grow, a large number of thin and short shoots grow, forming dense bunches
Ways to combat the virus are preventive in nature, since today there are no drugs that can stop the lesion. Sick bushes are destroyed. Against sucking insects (virus carriers), insecticides are treated (Actellik, Akarin, Fitoverm and others). Carefully select planting material.
Spider mite
The dimensions of this sucking pest are very small - from 0.6 to 1 mm. Its distribution is facilitated by dry and hot weather. The tick settles on the underside of the leaf and begins to suck out the juice from it and weave a web. As a result of infection, white spots appear on the leaves, they dry and fall off. During a drought, crop losses can be up to 70%.
A spider mite sucks juice from raspberry leaves and braids them with a web
Prevention consists in timely watering in hot weather, the destruction of affected leaves and weeds, digging the soil around the bushes to reduce the tick population. In case of severe damage by a spider mite from chemical preparations for spraying, you can use Fufanon, Akreks, Actellik and other insecticides.
Escape Gallic
The shoot gall midge larva forms annular swellings or growths (galls) on the raspberry stalks, the shoot is destroyed from the inside and cracked outside, becomes brittle at the site of damage and breaks off easily. Inside the gall there is a pest larva, which subsequently turns into a mosquito as a result of a development cycle. During the growing season, several generations of offspring are formed. Usually, growths form below, not far from the root system. Violation of sap flow leads to the death of a damaged shoot.
The shoot gall midge larva penetrates the raspberry stem and destroys it from the inside, forming ring growths (galls)
Since the larva is located inside the shoot, chemical methods of controlling the gall midge are ineffective. Weekly, they inspect the raspberry, if they find affected shoots, they are cut to the root and burned. In the autumn, they dig the soil deep, which contributes to the destruction of larvae. Then mulch it with a peat layer of at least 15 cm, this delays the release of insects.
Video: raspberry stricken with a shoot gall midge
Reviews
My hussar and meteor are growing. The meteor really ripens early, the taste is pleasant, without enthusiasm. I bought it for early maturity.
slogvaln//www.forumhouse.ru/threads/124983/page-80
I have a Meteor for the second year - the first fruiting, today they have picked up the first handful of berries, very sweet, but so far too small. The first of all my varieties. Two years ago I planted three seedlings and today it is two meters of solid forest. Shoots grow tall, and with fruiting we will see.
Ksenia95//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=9990
I have Meteor for 3 years, it is one of the earliest raspberry varieties, Semi-remontant, the berry is large, sweet and sour, the bush is high and must be tied up.
Genmin//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=9990
I have a Meteor at the moment the earliest of raspberries is beginning to bear fruit. The taste is good ... but the berry is too small. True, when the lingering autumn and the bush begins to repair, the berry for some reason is almost 2 times larger than the main summer crop. Overgrowth gives the sea. In connection with early fruiting, all his shortcomings are forgiven him.
Leva//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=9990
I also grow these summer varieties and also have thoughts to replace the Meteor with the Hussar because of the "sickness" of the Meteor. In my “wet” climate, my Meteor is very affected by fungal diseases and pests, I cut 3/4 of annual shoots in the fall. Although in 2016, from a single-line Meteor bed 4 meters long, she collected 23 liters of raspberries.
Tamara St. Petersburg//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=308&start=2340
It is hard to imagine that anyone could be indifferent to raspberries. They look forward to it and rejoice when the bushes are covered with red-ruby lights. Raspberry Meteor usually opens the season, so gardeners forgive her small flaws. If you grow a variety, taking into account its characteristics, you can get a high yield of fragrant and sweet summer berries. Early ripeness combined with high winter hardiness makes the Meteor indispensable for temperate and cold climates.
